Technology downscale for optical waveguides in cost performance electrical-optical circuit boards

Optical interconnections on printed circuit boards are a promising approach to increase the bandwidth in future links. The "waveguide-in-copper" technology is a cost effective method for fabrication of integrated optical waveguides. Following the trends for the optical interconnects on the PCB-level the waveguides have to be downscaled in pitch and structural dimension. In this paper the design and development of alternative technologies for structuring of integrated optical waveguides are described in detail. Considering the attenuation measurement the quality of the fabricated waveguides is evaluated. Furthermore the investigation on spatial coupling conditions enables one to compare the "waveguide-in-copper" technology with alternative ones